Closure for bottles and jars



L. ,R. .N. CARVALHO 2,058,297

".LOSURE FOR BOTTLES AND JARS Filed Jan. 27, 1954 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 20, 1936 o o'suRE-Fon BOTTLES mun- Jan's- Leslie R. N. Oarvalho, Toledo, Qhio, assignorto V Owens-Illinois Glass Company a corporation 1 Application January 27, 1934', serial No. "708,559

2 Claims. (cram-44') r s i ment with a threaded bottle neck of substantially My invention relates-to improved single piece sheet metal caps or closures 'fo'r bottles, jars or other containers. At the present day, caps made from a single piece of sheet metal, cut and drawn to shape, are extensively manufactured for bottles and jars. Caps are also made of molded materials, as, for example, bakelite. These have the advantage that they can be made with any desired wall thickness and are generally more massive and artistic in appearance than the sheet metal caps with their walls having only the thickness of the sheet metal. The molded caps are in this respect better adapted for use with bottles, jars, and containers generally where an artistic appearance is an important element. Such molded caps, however, are much more expensive to make than the sheet metal caps and have other disadvantages. Double walled sheet metal caps have been made to some extent with a View to overcoming the above noted objection to single piece sheet metal caps. These usually comprise an inner and an outer shell or cap made in separate pieces and then nested and secured together in a manner to give them the appearance of the more massive and artistic molded caps. Suchdouble sheet metal caps are much more expensive to make than single piece metal caps and involve various objections and difliculties from a manufacturing standpoint. Among these is the difficulty of reliably securing the inner and outer shells together so that relative movement is prevented and at the same time concealing the joint.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet metal cap made of a single piece so constructed as to give it a massive and artistic appearance such as found in molded caps, and further to provide such a cap which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which combines the desirable features of both sheet metal and molded. caps while avoiding the objectionable features above noted.

A further object of the invention is to provide a practical form of single piece sheet metal cap having interrupted threads or attaching devices on its interior surface for attachment to a screw threaded bottle neck or the like. Practical difflculty has heretofore been experienced in the manufacture of single piece metal caps having attaching devices of this character, owing to the difficulty of holding the caps in the threading machine in a manner to prevent slipping while the interrupted threads or lugs are being formed thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide a single piece sheet metal cap having formed on its interior surface attaching means for engagesmall'er diameter tharr'that of the capand' permitting the cap to be given the appearance 0f having a wall thickness much greater than that of the sheet metal of which the cap is composed. The invention further provides a form of construction which permits such a cap which is designed to fit a container neck of a predetermined size or diameter,to be made of any desired external diameter and wall thickness.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Referring to the accompanying drawing:

Fig: 1 is a top plan view of a. cap constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the cap.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation at the line IIIIII on Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional plan View, the section being taken at the line IVIV on Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional elevation showing the relation of the cap to the screw threaded neck of a container to which the cap is applied.

The cap comprises a circular top H] which, as herein shown, is somewhat convex, and a verticallydepending flange portion or skirt II, the lower marginal portion of which is rolled to form an annular bead l2. The bead I2 is formed by rolling the margin of the skirt either inwardly or outwardly. For the sake of appearance and to conceal the raw edge, the head is preferably rolled inwardly, although the operation of making the bead is somewhat simplified by rolling it outwardly. As shown, the exterior diameter of the cap through the bead I2 is the same as that of the flange portion I l above the bead. The flange portion of the cap is formed with an annular series of concave flutes l3 which extend downward from the top of the cap and terminate above or at the bead l2.

The cap is provided with means for attaching it to a screw threaded neck of a bottle or other container, such attaching means comprising a series of lugs l5 formed on the inner surfaces of the flutes I3. These lugs are spirally arranged to correspond to the screw thread l6 (Fig. 5) formed on the neck of a bottle or jar I! to which the cap is to be applied. The lugs l5 form in effect an interrupted screw thread. They are preferably formed by indenting or pressing the metal inward and thus forming recesses or notches in the outer concave surfaces of the flutes l3.

It will be observed that the inner surfaces of the flutes l3 which form the bases or supports for the lugs [5, are spaced inwardly a substantial distance from the cylindrical inner surface [8 (Fig. 4) of the skirt H. The diameter of this inner surface I8, is, therefore, materially greater than the exterior diameter of the threaded neck of the container for which the cap is adapted. The diameter of the cap is thus greater than that of a cap which is designed to fit the same container, but which has the attaching threads or lugs formed in the usual manner on the inner surface of the cap flange. The provision of the flutes I3 in the manner noted gives the cap the appearance of having a wall thickness corresponding to the depth of said flutes. The flutes further serve to give added strength and rigidity to the cap and provide a gripping surface which facilitates the screwing of the cap on and 01f the container. The flutes, moreover, provide a simple and efiective means for preventing the cap from slipping while in the screw forming machine used in making the lugs l5.

Modifications may be resorted to within the spirit and scopeof my invention.

I claim:

1. A closure cap consisting of a single piece of sheet metal, comprising a circular top portion and a cylindrical skirt depending therefrom, strengthening means on said skirt including inwardly and vertically extending curved portions arranged at intervals circumferentially thereof, to substantially reduce the interior diameter of the skirt at intervals, and attaching lugs extending inwardly from said curved portions.

2. A closure cap formed from a single piece of sheet metal and comprising a circular top portion and a depending skirt, an internal bead at the lower edge of said skirt, means for strengthening and stiffening said skirt and forming an irregular gripping surface thereon, including an annular series of vertically extending inwardly curved flutes formed on the skirt, and attaching lugs extending radially inward from the curved portions, the interior diameter between said curved 20 portions being substantially less than the diameter of the inturned bead.

LESLIE R. N. CARVALHO. 

